As Uber Stumbles, Lyft Keeps Calm and Carries On

As reported in The New York Times, Uber’s CEO recently resigned under pressure from investors after a string of setbacks. As Uber regroups and rethinks its leadership, what does this mean for its competitor Lyft?

“For a while, people kept saying, ‘Oh, they’re the nice guys, they’re not going to build the right business because there’s someone that’s more aggressive,’” John Zimmer, Lyft’s president, said in a recent NYT article.

Founded in 2012, Lyft built itself around the idea that customers didn’t want just a cheap ride, they wanted a wholesome experience, with “a whiff of virture,” reports the NYT. “The fact that values matter and ethics matter does not surprise me,” Zimmer said. “To me, that’s obvious.”

The company says it arranged more than 70 million rides in the first quarter of this year, 142 percent more than the same period a year earlier. In April, the company closed a $600 million fund-raising round, and it has since formed major partnerships with companies like Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo.

As this shakeup at Uber plays out, we’ll see how the two rival transportation tech companies fare in an increasingly competitive market. At a surface level, in business and investment, one may argue that “nice guys finish last.”

But perhaps that’s not the case here.

Do you use Lyft? Have you ever not used Uber because of scandals or leadership statements?

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